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FOX Desperate for Rams Fans to Show Up, Puts Out a Casting Call

It’s an unquestionably big, BIG, game this Sunday between the Rams and Eagles. The storylines are rife with drama. You’ve got Jared Goff and Carson Wentz going head to head for the first time with, no less, the inside track to a first round bye in the NFC playoff picture at stake. The two leading NFL Coach of the Year candidates, Sean McVay and Doug Pederson, will be matching wits in a showdown of the league’s two highest scoring teams. No wonder why FOX opted to make it the nationally televised late afternoon game and move the Giants and Cowboys to the 1 p.m. slot for the first time since 2005.

There’s no doubt the home crowd will be buzzing with electricity and anticipation come Sunday afternoon, so it makes total sense for the execs at FOX Sports to move the pregame show just 12 miles east across I-10 from its studios to capture the authentic feel outside of L.A. Memorial Coliseum. There’s just one small problem. Apparently, the show’s producers aren’t quite sure that anybody in the Greater Los Angeles Metropolitan area actually gives a fuck about football, so, to nip this potential minor annoyance in the bud, they’ve turned to a casting call to ensure some people wearing Rams gear show up. Seriously.

Straight from the source:

“Casting directors are now casting actors, models, and talent to work on Sunday, December 10th in Los Angeles, California.”

Personally, I would’ve gone with a more enticing copy. Something like:

Great news, die-hard Los Angeles Rams fans–the NFL on FOX is looking for YOU! Yes, that’s right. If you live within two hours of L.A. and kind of care about football, you can stop on by to be part of FOX NFL Sunday. Don’t know football? Fuck it, whatever, it doesn’t even matter. If you’re hot, didn’t get cast for that genital herpes commercial you were holding out for, and not busing tables at some overpriced restaurant on Hollywood Boulevard, then come hang with Curt, Howie, Michael, Jimmy, and Terry!

It’s true that raucous pregame shows like ESPN’s College Gameday have contrived elements, but it’s authenticity is fueled by early morning cheap beer and vodka, along with asshole college students making mean-spirited and sometimes hilariously insensitive signs. It’s fun and stands and in stark contrast to FOX needing a casting call for a fucking pregame show to make it look like people care. My guess is there’s a genuine concern from producers that 1) Eagles fans are actually going to flood the surrounding lots prior to the game and 2) a lack of Rams fans will create an awkward on-camera fan imbalance. Why? Because we checked the site for other FOX casting calls and this is the first time they’ve ever done this.

Maybe Rams head coach Sean McVay is onto something.

McVay said he would consider practicing with silent count this week, after seeing how many Eagles fans were at StubHub for the Chargers game earlier this season.